Favourite for February

The head was known to be a stickler for the correct school uniform. He would frequently make a point of being out and about when classes were changing over and would grab a girl, take her to one side, remonstrate with her about her skirt being too short, or her hair not tied back, or wearing make-up and she would get written up for a one-hour after-school detention.

The day that Mr Frost got angry with Emily for not completing her geography homework for the third consecutive time and said he was reporting her to the headmaster, she hoped against hope she wouldn't be summoned until at least the next day so that she could wear her proper length skirt. It was not to be. Last class of the morning and his secretary turned up to take her to the head's office. She rather expected he'd comment on her skirt first but he launched straight into the homework matter and tore a strip off her for that. Then he brought out a cane from his cupboard and her heart sank. It wasn't a totally new experience for her and she knew it hurt a lot. She had to bend over and he gave her four strokes, possibly even harder than the last time, and when she stood up she was very close to tears - it was probably only because she was in a bit of a state of shock that she wasn't blubbing.

"Right now girl. Before my secretary takes you back to your class I must also comment on that skirt - you know fine well that it's too short for the uniform regulations and I could give you a detention for that. I won't do so on this occasion. However, I will be asking your form teacher to check your uniform at least once a week for the rest of term, and if they see you wearing a skirt that short again, then it will be a detention. Am I clear?"

"Sir."

"I must also remind you that three detentions in one term automatically mean a caning and next time you'll get six." Emily gulped. She couldn't face six strokes of the cane so it looked as if she would have to comply.

"One more thing. Because it's too short, when you bent over for this caning I could see rather too much of your knickers. They are not uniform compliant either so you must remove those immediately."

"But Sir, I don't have another pair with me."

"Not my problem - you'll just have to be very careful for the rest of the day won't you?"  Realising that arguing was only making matters worse she turned away from him, put her hands up under her skirt, and pulled them down. She'd done it as quickly as possible and hoped she hadn't shown off too much in the process. The headmaster held out his waste bin and invited her to drop them in. She almost ran from the office with tears running down her flushed cheeks. As a result, she didn't see the glimmer of a smile on his face from having glimpsed the evidence of his handiwork.